High school renovations push forward

TEMECULA - A major renovation project at Temecula Valley High
School is on schedule and pushing forward, despite some concerns
that the second part of the project may have to be delayed because
of a lack of funding.

The huge project includes the construction of a new pool and gym
at the 22-year-old campus, a $22 million effort well under way and
expected to be completed by early September, district officials
said Monday.

"We're moving along on schedule," said Facilities Director Dave
Gallaher of the Temecula Valley Unified School District. "The
scoreboard is on the wall, the basketball hoops are installed, and
one of the air conditioners is already running to lay the wooden
floor. So that's all shaping up really nicely. There is still a lot
of work to be done, but it's come a long way."

And there is more to come. Part of the overall plan for the
campus is to build a new performing arts theater. At a school board
meeting tonight, trustees are expected to approve $1.2 million in
construction contracts to prepare a plot of land at the school for
the theater's eventual construction.

The money would pay for:

removing five old portable classrooms for future use at the
district's charter schools and to make way for the theater's
construction;

relocating a storage building and a variety of
athletics-related storage containers from the future theater
footprint to a location near the school's athletic fields;

installing underground utilities to serve the future
theater;

excavating and grading the land;

constructing a service road;

and installing an interim fence to separate the future theater
construction zone from the active areas of the campus.

Gallaher said officials prefer to get all of that work done this
summer while students are not at school. Once completed, officials
are going to ask firms to bid on building the theater, he said. If
bids come in at reasonable prices, the theater could be built
during the 2007-08 school year, he said.

"We didn't want to lose the summer window," he said. "If
everything happens the way we hope it will, if we get good,
competitive bids for the theater, we'll already have a jump on it.
Everything will be out of the way; all the utilities will be ready
and excavation will be done, and there will be a big construction
fence around the whole area to contain the work during the school
year."

While it was unclear Monday exactly what the district could
afford for the theater's construction, Gallaher said officials have
projected it would cost about $8.5 million.

If bids come in higher than anticipated, officials may have to
tinker with the plans, he said.

"We are going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it,"
he said.

In the past, when bids have come in high, officials have gone
back and re-evaluated the project and attempted to change it in
some way to make it more affordable, or they have waited for a
better bidding market, he said.

Current plans call for a 775-seat theater, but there has been
debate among district trustees over whether that many seats are
necessary.

Meanwhile, some trustees said Monday they are hoping for the
best.

"It's been high on our list of things we'd like to do over the
last seven years," board President Stewart Morris said of the
Temecula Valley High renovation. "We are happy to see the progress
that's going on now."

Trustee Barbara Tooker said the school board is in a
wait-and-see mode over the bids.

"The cost of the project has far exceeded original estimates,"
Tooker said, adding that steel and other prices have risen
dramatically since the revamp was designed many years ago.

"It's very exciting. It's wonderful. The kids are thrilled," she
said of the project. "We are just going to have to work to make
sure we have the funding, and we're are all holding our
breath."